The use of cellular and other wireless telephones has become widespread in recent years. The convenience of carrying such telephones on one""s person has increased due to improvements in the size, shape, weight, and cost of such phones, and due to the growing demand of people in the business community to be continuously accessible to clients and co-workers.
Before cellular phones became so commonplace, it generally suited one""s needs to have a listing of often used telephone numbers situated proximately to each stationary telephone one used regularly, often in the form of address books or rolodexes. Such listings have been found to be less convenient, however, for use with cellular phones because of the need of assuring that the particular listing is present whenever and wherever the cellular phone may be used.
Efforts to alleviate this problem have included placing a writable panel on the cellular phone""s exterior casing on which telephone numbers or speed dial numbers may be listed. However, the space available on such exterior surfaces, is usually quite limited; therefore, relatively few numbers can be listed in this manner. Furthermore, handwriting placed directly on the exterior of the cellular phone may render the phone undesirably unattractive.
Other attempts to alleviate the problem have been offered by some telephone manufacturers, including the so-called xe2x80x9cflip-phonexe2x80x9d, a phone designed to have a hingeable panel which may overlap a portion of the face of the telephone to thereby cover the portion and protect the portion from the environment. The cover portion of the xe2x80x9cflip-phonexe2x80x9d, when rotated away from the face of the phone, provides an additional surface on which telephone numbers or speed dial numbers can be written and/or displayed. The additional structure required by the xe2x80x9cflip-phonexe2x80x9d, however, adds undesirable bulk and weight to the cellular phone, and therefore makes it less commercially appealing than would be a slimmer, lighter phone.
Yet another attempt to address the telephone number listing problem has been manifested in cellular phones which simply contain additional electronic memory, and possibly an additional display screen, so that one may electronically access a listing of previously stored telephone numbers or speed dial numbers. Obviously, these features may add significantly to the cost and fragility of the cellular phone, and in this respect may be undesirable.
In order to provide a lightweight, space-efficient means for keeping lists of telephone numbers at hand when using a wireless telecommunication device, applicant discloses and claims herein a wireless telecommunication device having an outer casing and a retractable writing surface attached to the casing. The surface is disposed for receiving written information thereon and includes a collapsibly foldable writing sheet suitable for receiving and retaining the written information thereon. The writing surface has an open position wherein the surface is substantially flat and disposed for receiving written information thereon and a closed position wherein the surface is substantially collapsed. The retractable writing surface further includes a member having first and second ends, the member being pivotally attached at the first end to the outer casing, and the member being substantially attached along its length to an edge of a writing sheet such that rotation of the member about the pivotally attached first end swings the collapsibly foldable writing surface between the open and closed positions.
Also disclosed and claimed is a collapsible writing surface for attachment to a wireless telecommunication device having an outer casing. The collapsible writing surface has a closed position wherein the writing surface is fully retracted and an open position wherein the writing surface is fully extended. The writing surface includes a series of n generally triangular panels, each of the generally triangular panels having a generally linear leading edge, a generally linear trailing edge, and a perimetrical edge intersecting the leading and trailing edges. Each of the leading edges of the panels adjoins the trailing edges of subsequent panels in the series for all the interior panels of the series.
Thus, the inventive wireless telecommunication device and collapsible writing surface enables the user to keep with him, in tandem with his cellular telephone, his most commonly used or important telephone numbers. The writing surfaces may be easily detachable and replaceable by the user to increase the quantity of telephone numbers or other information which may be accessible wherever the wireless telecommunication device is carried.